The ''Diploma Ottonianum'' (also called the ''Pactum Ottonianum'', ''Privilegium Ottonianum'' or simply ''Ottonianum'') was an agreement between

Pope John XII Pope John XII ( la, Ioannes XII; c. 930/93714 May 964), born Octavian, was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 16 December 955 to his death in 964. He was related to the counts of Tusculum, a powerful Roman family which had do ...

and Otto I, King of Germany and Italy. It confirmed the earlier

Donation of Pepin The Donation of Pepin in 756 provided a legal basis for the creation of the Papal States, thus extending the temporal rule of the popes beyond the duchy of Rome. Background In 751, Aistulf, king of the Lombards, conquered what remained of the ex ...

, granting control of the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

to the Popes, regularizing Papal elections, and clarifying the relationship between the Popes and the Holy Roman Emperors.

Description

The forces of John XII, not yet 26 years of age, had been defeated in the war against Pandolfo Testa di Ferro of

Capua Capua ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Caserta, in the region of Campania, southern Italy, situated north of Naples, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain. History Ancient era The name of Capua comes from the Etrus ...

, and at the same time many strongholds in the

were occupied by

Berengar of Ivrea Berengar II ( 900 – 4 August 966) was the King of Italy from 950 until his deposition in 961. He was a scion of the Anscarid and Unruoching dynasties, and was named after his maternal grandfather, Berengar I. He succeeded his father as Margr ...

, effectively if not completely legally King of Italy, and his son Adalbert. In this dilemma the Pope had recourse to Otto who reappeared in Italy at the head of a powerful army, as he had in the previous decade, now ostensibly as a papal

champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, a ...

. Berengar, however, did not risk an encounter, but retired to his fortified castles.Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Pope John XII." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 4 January 2016 Thus, without conclusive military encounters, on January 31, 962, Otto reached Rome. He took an oath to recognize John as Pope and ruler of Rome; to issue no decrees without the Pope's consent; and, in case he should deliver the command in Italy to anyone else, to exact from such person an oath to defend to the utmost of his ability the Pope and the Patrimony of Peter. The Pope for his part swore to keep faith with Otto and to conclude no alliance with Berengar and Adalbert. Subsequently, on February 2 Otto was solemnly crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the Pope. Ten days later at a Roman synod, John, at Otto's desire, founded the Archbishopric of Magdeburg and the

Bishopric of Merseburg The Bishopric of Merseburg was an episcopal see on the eastern border of the medieval Duchy of Saxony with its centre in Merseburg, where Merseburg Cathedral was constructed. The see was founded in 967 by Emperor Otto I at the same time in the s ...

, bestowed the pallium on the

Archbishop of Salzburg The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Salzburg ( la, Archidioecesis Salisburgensis) is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in Austria. The archdiocese is one of two Austrian archdioceses, serving alongside the Archdiocese ...

and

Archbishop of Trier The Diocese of Trier, in English historically also known as ''Treves'' (IPA "tɾivz") from French ''Trèves'', is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic church in Germany.Rather as Bishop of Verona. The next day, the emperor issued a decree, the famous ''Diploma Ottonianum'', in which he confirmed the Roman Church in its possessions, particularly those granted by the

and by Charlemagne, and provided at the same time that in future the Popes should be elected in canonical form, though their consecration was to take place only after the necessary pledges had been given to the emperor or his ambassadors. In essence, the Emperor was to be the guarantor of Papal independence, but to retain the right to confirm Papal elections. Historians debate, in terms of power and prestige, whether the ''Diploma Ottonianum'' was a prestigious advantage for the papacy or a political triumph for the emperor. On 14 February the emperor marched out of Rome with his army to resume the war against Berengar and Adalbert. The Pope now quickly changed his mind, while Otto on his part pressed his imperial authority to excessive limits, and the brief alliance dissolved in wrangling. John sent envoys to the Magyars and the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

to form a league against Otto, who returned to Rome in November 963, and convened a synod of bishops that deposed John and crowned

Pope Leo VIII Pope Leo VIII ( 915 – 1 March 965) was a Roman prelate who claimed the Holy See from 963 until 964 in opposition to John XII and Benedict V and again from 23 June 964 to his death. Today he is considered by the Catholic Church to have bee ...

, a layman, as pope. The authenticity of the contents of this much-discussed document seems certain, even though, like other 10th century documents, the extant document seems to be only a duplicate of the original (Sickel, ''Das Privilegium Ottos I, für die römische Kirche'', Innsbruck, 1883). The ''Diploma Ottonianum'' was reconfirmed in the ''Diploma Heinricianum'' co-signed at Easter, 1020, by

Pope Benedict VIII Pope Benedict VIII ( la, Benedictus VIII; c. 980 – 9 April 1024) was bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 18 May 1012 until his death. He was born Theophylact to the noble family of the counts of Tusculum. Unusually for a medieva ...

(1012–1024) and

Emperor Henry II Henry II (german: Heinrich II; it, Enrico II; 6 May 973 – 13 July 1024), also known as Saint Henry the Exuberant, Obl. S. B., was Holy Roman Emperor ("Romanorum Imperator") from 1014. He died without an heir in 1024, and was the last ruler ...

(1002–1024), meeting at Bamberg on the occasion of a papal journey. Hanns Leo Mikoletzky calls it a "frequently overrated document", and says that Henry would have not been overly concerned with the problem of its many binding stipulations. "For the content of these privileges had taken on a rigid form, whose confirmation was perhaps a question of prestige for the papacy but no longer an exalted obligation for the German king. The recognition of the Church's property and rights which found expression there would surely have been advanced by the Curia in case of emergency on the ground of earlier confirmations without this gesture of Henry's...' (Mikoletzky, ''Heinrich II. und die Kirche'', 1946, pp. 68–69, quoted by Miranda). The Papacy's strategies to free itself from the restrictions of the ''Diploma Ottonianum'' in the later 11th century form the background to the

Gregorian Reform The Gregorian Reforms were a series of reforms initiated by Pope Gregory VII and the circle he formed in the papal curia, c. 1050–80, which dealt with the moral integrity and independence of the clergy. The reforms are considered to be na ...

and the

Investiture Controversy The Investiture Controversy, also called Investiture Contest ( German: ''Investiturstreit''; ), was a conflict between the Church and the state in medieval Europe over the ability to choose and install bishops ( investiture) and abbots of mona ...

References

External links

Salvador Miranda, "The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church":
11th century and later confirmations and reconfirmations of the ''Diploma Ottonianum''

Theodor Sickel, Das Privilegium Otto I für die Römische Kirche
() {{Holy See History of the papacy 960s in the Holy Roman Empire 10th-century documents 962 Papal States 10th-century Latin writers

Description

References

Further reading

External links